IMAX Troubles
Continue - Can Animation Save It?(by digitalmediafx.com) IMAX, which is looking to Disney animation
as its hero, continues to struggle financially. Yesterday, the
Company reported a loss of $32.5 million or $1.08 per share for
the fourth quarter and a loss of $92.9 million or $3.11 per share
for the full year.

"While
we expect such difficulties to continue to affect our financial
results into 2001, we are putting in place strategic initiatives
to improve the Company's results in 2002 and beyond," said
IMAX Co-Chief Executive Officers Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley
J. Wechsler. "The IMAX Experience is becoming increasingly
popular with audiences around the world. We are particularly pleased
that The Walt Disney Company announced last month that it intends
to follow last year's successful release of Fantasia 2000:
The IMAX Experience with a large-format release of Beauty and
The Beast next March, which should provide a further boost
to IMAX's exposure and theatre attendance. This is a clear validation
of our strategy to attract better film content to IMAX theatres."

Disney's Fantasia
2000 was IMAX's biggest money making film last year.

Warner
Bros. Releases The Matrix 2 & 3 Filming Details(by
digitalmediafx.com) The following is an unedited press release
put out by Warner Bros. about The Matrix sequels:

Producer Joel
Silver and directors Larry and Andy Wachowski will shoot sequels
to their groundbreaking, Academy Award-winning blockbuster The
Matrix in Australia, it was announced today by Lorenzo di
Bonaventura, President of Worldwide Production, Warner Bros. Pictures.

"We had
a terrific experience shooting The Matrix in Australia,"
Lorenzo di Bonaventura said. "We look forward to reteaming
with our partners from Village Roadshow, and returning to the
state-of-the-art facilities and incredible locations in Sydney
to shoot the sequels in collaboration with the talented local
production crew and with the cooperation of the Australian government."

"This
is wonderful news because it's return business," said Bob
Carr, the Sydney-based Premier of New South Wales. "The
Matrix was the first big international production to come
to our new Sydney studios. Now the sequels will be shot here as
well. That's a great vote of confidence in our crews, our locations
and our facilities. It confirms our position as a leading film-making
destination."

After completing
preliminary photography in California, the production will be
based at the Fox Studios in Sydney. The Matrix sequels
will film on location in Sydney with the support and assistance
of the Federal Government, the State Government of New South Wales,
N.S.W. State Premier Bob Carr, and the Office of State and Regional
Development.

Keanu Reeves,
Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving will reprise
their roles from The Matrix. Also returning will be Australian
producer Andrew Mason, as well as numerous local crew members
and award-winning technicians from the original Matrix
production.

The highly
acclaimed action thriller won four Academy Awards, became the
fastest-selling DVD on record at the time of its release, and
has accumulated the biggest box office in Warner Bros. Pictures'
history - over $450 million worldwide.

The Matrix
sequels, presented by Warner Bros. Pictures in association with
Village Roadshow Pictures and NPV Entertainment, are scheduled
to begin production in Sydney in September 2001. The films will
be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and, in select
territories, by Village Roadshow Pictures. Village Roadshow Pictures
is the Motion Picture Production division of Village Roadshow
Limited, an international entertainment company whose operations
also include Cinema Exhibition, Film Distribution, Radio and Theme
Parks. Village Roadshow Pictures co-produces ten to twelve titles
annually with major studio partners.

Disney
to Show Select Animation Shorts at the El Capitan(by
digitalmediafx.com) Mark
your calendars if you live near Los Angeles. On Sunday, April
8, Disney will show a few classic animated short films along with
a feature presentation of the live action silent movie Peter Pan,
which was originally released in 1924.

The live action
Peter Pan movie served as an inspiration to Walt Disney who purchased
all rights to the film and started work on an animated version
in 1938.

Last year,
Disney showed the same silent Peter Pan movie to a sellout crowd.

"Our
special presentation of Peter Pan last year was such a
success that we're bringing it back for those who missed it and
those who want to see it again. It's one of the best movies from
the silent era and when you add live accompaniment on 'the Mightiest
of the Mighty Wurlitzers' played by acclaimed organist Chris Elliott
and a birthday celebration for Walt Disney, you have an entertainment
event that is truly unique. The El Capitan is a wonderful showcase
and we're committed to providing the ultimate in entertainment
for the whole family."

Buena Vista
Marketing says that the event will be a celebration of Walt Disney's
100th birthday that includes rare screenings of two 1922 animated
shorts, "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Puss in Boots,"
along with family home movies and previously unseen footage. Disney
film restoration expert Scott MacQueen will host the event.

To order tickets,
call 1-800-DISNEY6. Ticket prices are $12 a piece. Digital Media
FX staff will be in attendance at the event, which begins at 2PM
on Sunday, April 8.

News Link
of the Day - Human Touch a Bit Too Realistic for Animated
Shrek

According to USA Today:

"Sometimes,
Hollywood can stray too far from never-never land.

The technology
behind the computer-animated Shrek -- one of the most anticipated
PG-rated films of the summer season -- faced a reality check during
production. The characters were getting a bit too, well, real..."